On the pathology of night-sweating in phthisis : and the mode of action of strychnia and other remedies in it / by T. Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
[1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology of night-sweating in phthisis : and the mode of action of strychnia and other remedies in it / by T. Lauder Brunton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Case III. Frances E., aged 44, came to Elizabeth Ward on the 13th of August 1879, suffering from advanced phthisis. Sweating at night had been very severe for some weeks. On August 14, fifteen drops of tincture of nux vomica were given at night. The sweating, however, was quite as had as usual. On the 16th the dose was increased to twenty drops. Still there was no difference in the sweating. On the 18th twenty-five drops were given. That time, for the first time for weeks, there was no sweating. This dose was repeated every night, with the result apparently of stopping the sweats. On August 30, however, and following nights, they recurred in spite of the drug. On the 1st September the dose was increased to thirty drops. On this night there was no sweating. This dose was repeated every night, but on the 14th of September the sweating reeurred, and continued without being diminished by the drug, which was ' then discontinued. Some time later the sweating became very tlistressing in the daytime as well as at night, beginning early in the afternoon. A subcutaneous injection of extract of bella- donna, gr. was then tried, given when the sweating began, with the effect of checking it in a few hours. Case IV. Charles W., aged 23, was a patient in John Ward during July, August, and September 1879, with a large serous effusion into the left pleura, displacing the heart and causing consider- able dyspnoea and cough. He complained very much of night- sweats. Ten drops of tincture of nux vomica were tried on the 29th of August, The patient did not sweat that night at all. The dose was continued every night with the same result, but on September nth the sweating recurred. The dose was in- creased to twenty drops, and after this there was no sweating. But it is evident that if strychnia increases the excitability of the respiratory centre by stimulus applied directly to it, such as the carbonic acid present in the blood, it is likely also to in- crease its susceptibility to reflex irritation, such as the exciting by tubercle in the lungs, and thus it might be that it would tend to increase the cough in case of phthisis. This, indeed, it appears, in some instances, to do. I have tried here to remedy this by a combination of strychnia with opium, and this appears partially to succeed. Where, however, strychnia does not appear